Mayor Bowser Signs Historic Legislation

I was proud to stand with Mayor Muriel Bowser and other advocates on March 20 as she celebrated Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month by signing the Disability Services Reform Amendment Act of 2018 (http://lims.dccouncil.us/Legislation/B22-0154?FromSearchResults=true).  Deputy Mayor HyeSook Chung joined her as well, staying for amazing performances, interviews and proclamations at the “See Me for Me” event which took place at the headquarters of the Department on Disability Services.  Read more about this important event at https://tinyurl.com/ybuqzxbn and https://tinyurl.com/yacl7lmq.  I hope that DDS will post pictures of some of the most memorable moments to its website.

If you testified, or wrote a single email or letter to the council as the DSRAA bill (B22-0154) was considered over the past several years, you played a key role as well.  So congratulate yourself on a job well done!

Strike!

(Unless you were there!) You missed an amazing evening at Lucky Strike on March 8 with Quality Trust and its many supporters!  But you can mark your calendar now for the annual QT gala, at District Winery on July 29, 6:30 P.M.

Planning Your Financial Future

On February 13 (“Let’s Keep It Moving”), I wrote the following:

Looking ahead, March 9 is the next meeting of D.C.’s Supporting Families Community of Practice (https://dds.dc.gov/event/state-team-meeting-supporting-families-community-practice-friday-march-9-2018).  You’ll remember that there were two briefings last year about ABLE accounts, one on ABLE in general and another about the newly-created D.C. ABLE account.  I wrote about these in my September 18 blog post, “News, News, News,” and then on October 17 in “Thinking About ABLE,” both of which you can find by clicking on “ABLE” in the Search box over to the right.  It was clear from those meetings that it would help to have some more general briefings on budget basics and responsible money management, so the upcoming meeting will focus on that.  I know that Emily Price (emily.price@dc.gov) will make sure there is a call-in option for those who can’t make it to DDS headquarters (250 E St. SW, next to the Federal Center SW metro station).

I was proud on Friday to kick off this meeting, which mainly revolved around two presentations, one by Linda Stroman of Capital Area Asset Builders

(http://www.caab.org/en) on personal budgeting, and the other by Elizabeth Jennings at the National Disability Institute (https://www.realeconomicimpact.org) 

on the impact of federal benefits like SSI and SSDI on your personal finance.  Both were exceptional presentations, and you should keep your eye on this website:

https://dds.dc.gov/node/1053172

where the Power Point presentations and other resources will be posted, I’m sure, as soon as Emily Price (Emily.price@dc.gov) can catch her breath!